Bargen shares coaching story

No one wants to have a job where their time and energy goes into something they are not passionate about. They want to go to work knowing they are going to love what is to come that day and be satisfied after clocking out. For head men’s basketball coach, Brent Bargen, passion for his job comes from his family.

Bargen’s father and two uncles were coaches at all levels as he grew up. He started coaching alongside his high school coach when he was in college for a summer with an Athletic Amateur Team. The first paid coaching job Bargen received was with a college teammate, Mark Wragge who was hired at Dorchester High School, a very small school in south central Nebraska.  After spending one season at Dorchester, Bargen moved to Lincoln where he was the junior varsity coach for a season at Nebraska Wesleyan University, a NCAA Division III school.

On his coaching start, Bargen  said that, “there is no such thing in life as a perfect situation, especially in coaching. There are many struggles and many rewarding things about coaching.”

One of the struggles is finding time for everything else, “because of the time commitments of the job, one of the worst parts of the occupation is being forced to miss out on a lot of family experiences,” Bargen said.

But there are also rewards that come with coaching.

“It is an awesome experience to see how young people grow while they are in your program,” Bargen said. “Not so much as players, but more so as people. It can be a very tough time for most young people going from adolescents under the supervision of their parental unit to becoming independent young adults.”

Bargen also relayed the idea that when he began coaching, it took a lot of persistance and dedication. After moving to Manhattan, Kan., after Bargen’s wife, Leslie, was promoted within her job, Bargen met up with old friend and opponent Bob Hansen. Hansen helped Bargen receive a meeting with Tom Asbury, the head coach at Kansas State University at the time. Unfortunately, the staff did not have an opening, but Bargen did not give up.

“I went to their office each day in hopes of them creating a job.  Eventually, the coaching staff would send me on errands and do random things for the program. Our family couldn’t survive on another volunteer coaching salary so I started working mornings for a construction company that was doing a project on KSU’s campus and going into the office in the afternoons for practice.  After a few months of volunteering, Coach Asbury did create a job title for me and I was hired as a member of his staff,” Bargen said.

Bargen then went on to coach for six seasons in Long Beach Calif., before moving back to Nebraska where he and his wife are from. He is originally from Milford, after being born in Superior, but spent his senior year in Crete, while his father coached at Doane College. His wife is now the events coordinator for the Chadron State Foundation and Alumni Association. They have three kids, Ashley who will be graduating this May, Zac who transferred to Chadron this year, and Jake who is a senior at Chadron High School.

Bargen has been coaching at Chadron State for seven years after being selected over almost 100 applicants in the summer of 2006. He has coached 11 All-RMAC athletes and had five of his players continue the sport overseas.